Naming new school: 'At least it's a fun decision to make'

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SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - The name for a new Springfield elementary school is still still up in the air, but the school naming committee has narrowed it down to three names.

After months of research and discussion, the committee has narrowed their search down to these three names: Two Rivers Elementary, Washburne Elementary or Spring Mountain Elementary.

The committee has met four different times since October to evaluate community and student submissions for the new school that will be housed in the former Springfield Middle School facility in fall 2012.

There were 238 responses to an on-line survey which consisted of 92 unique names.

Springfield Elementary was the most popular name the committee received.

The committee also considered naming the school after a local hero, such as slain police officer Chris Kilcullen and author Ken Kesey, who graduated from Springfield High School.

The naming committee narrowed the search to these three names for certain reasons.

Committee members liked the "two rivers" name, as they compared it "two rivers of a school coming together in a stream."

"What we love about the Washburne name is that it really connects to the Washburne neighborhood where the school will be situated," said Jeff DeFranco, Director of Communications for Springfield Public Schools.

DeFranco said there was a special connection to the "spring mountain" name as well.

"Spring Mountain has the 'm-o' from Moffitt and the 't-a-i-n' from Brattain, so it's kind of the connection with those two names and that was actually a student based idea," DeFranco said.

Now that all of the ideas are in, it is up to the school board to make the final decision.

"That's why they have to make the difficult decisions here, but at least it's a fun decision to make," DeFranco said.